Temple Newsam is a terrific venue for a race with acres of scenic parkland & we had warm sunny weather. There are downsides: it's very hilly & most of the running is off road. My plan for the race was to take it fairly steady as it was only 24 hours since my last race & I was still feeling the effects of a cold & chest infection.
The race set off fairly quickly down a steep tarmac section, but after about 500m was on to the dry dusty tracks & the first long hill wasn't far away. I settled into a steady rhythm as well as I could, a few metres behind Richard R & Steve C. We did a couple of laps of a loop through the woods, before heading back to the uphill tarmac section to the finish.
The guy from Wetherby (in the picture) overtook me just before the start of the final climb. I managed to follow him most of the way uphill before finding a sprint from somewhere to just beat him to the line.
I finished in 30th position, covering the hilly 8.6k in 34:31, just under4 minutes per km pace, which was OK, all things considered. The result meant that I was able to maintain my lead in the M55 category for the series, finishing a few places ahead of clubmate Malcolm P who's in 2nd place. In the team results Ilkley Harriers finished first in both the vets & supervets (over 55) categories.
It was a successful evening as far as the results were concerned, but I'm not sure that racing on consecutive days is really a good idea. I need to take it easy for a few days now.
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